15 May 2019

Major US agency ICM Partners to work with CBC on a special transatlantic online course

From Left: ICM literary agents Heather Karpas and Zoe Sandler

by Katie Smart
Course News, Events

We are thrilled to announce that the major US agency ICM Partners is to join forces with us on a special six-month online novel-writing course starting this September – providing 15 talented writing students with a unique opportunity to connect with literary agents from both the US and the UK and to glean knowledge and industry insights from both US and UK publishing perspectives.

ICM Partners has been working with the Curtis Brown agency for over 10 years on the UK and translation rights representation of its stellar list of authors. We are hugely excited to have Heather Karpas and Zoe Sandler – both literary agents at ICM in New York – joining our upcoming 6-month online novel-writing course, with the shared mission of discovering and developing exciting new writers …

Heather Karpas has been at ICM Partners since 2012, building a client list of adult authors in narrative nonfiction, commercial and literary fiction, pop culture and poetry. She holds a B.A. in Psychology from Middlebury College in Vermont.

Zoe Sandler joined ICM Partners in October 2011, building a list of author clients working on fiction and nonfiction, books for kids and for adults. Prior to joining ICM, Zoe spent three years at an academic press in North Carolina, after graduating from McGill University in Montreal.

Applications are now open for the six month-online course which will run September 2019-March 2020 – taught by Commonwealth-Book-Prize-winning author Lisa O’Donnell. Students with financial hardship can apply for the fully-funded scholarship being provided by bestselling author Jane Fallon (the scholarship winner can choose between this course and the London-based six month course).

The students for this course will be selected from among applications received by the CBC team on the basis of quality of material from their novels-in-progress.

Heather Karpas and Zoe Sandler will be taking part in two ‘agent days’, giving feedback to students on their pitches and answering their questions on publishing and writing – and at the end of the course, students will have the chance to share the openings of their novels-in-progress and their synopses with both the US and UK agents. To find out more and apply, here.

Our MD Anna Davis, says: “I am so thrilled that Heather Karpas and Zoe Sandler are going to work with us on this course. Our online creative writing courses are inherently international, with many writers participating from across the world – but the involvement of ICM Partners gives us a new and brilliant opportunity to specifically reach out to talented US writers – as well as offering fascinating insights into the US market for all of the students who’ll be taking part.”

Heather Karpas and Zoe Sandler say: “We’ve long admired the work that CBC does with emerging writers, and the remarkable success of the program. We are thrilled to participate and help expand its reach into the US market.”

Find out more about all of the course we currently have on offer for enrolment or application, in London or online, here.